“Thank you for your service to this community,” said Simi Valley Mayor Paul Miller, during the presentation of the commendation at the City Council’s Jan. 12 meeting. The council and attendees at the meeting applauded the chapter for their service.

Lekishia Moffett-White, president of the Ventura County Alumnae Chapter (VCAC) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., said the chapter is following in the footsteps of the sorority’s founders in continuing to make “community service No. 1.”

“We are proud of the projects and service we have provided to Ventura and Santa Barbara counties,” White added.

Delta Sigma Theta was founded in 1913 by 22 students at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The private, nonprofit organization has grown to more than 200,000 predominately African-American college educated women, who are members of some 900 chapters located in the United States, England, Japan, Germany, Korea, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Virgin Islands.

The Ventura chapter, which was chartered in 1980, serves Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The chapter’s programs have varied as the communities it serves have changed. However, all programs and projects are related to Delta’s national Five Point Program Thrust: Economic Development, Educational Development, International Awareness and Involvement, Physical and Mental Health, and Political Awareness and Involvement.

Some of the chapter’s ongoing projects are holiday baskets for the needy, collecting toys for RAIN Transitional Housing Program, voter education and registration, and the G.E.M.S. mentoring program for teenage girls. The chapter has provided thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving college-bound students.